05 November 2023 , 22:30
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Mauricio Pochettino admitted he still has an emotional attachment to Spurs before taking Chelsea back to the Tottenham Stadium.
And the Argentine refused to rule out a future permanent return to his old club. “Why not?” said the former Spurs boss.
The Argentine, 51, formed a strong emotional bond with Tottenham fans during his five-year years at the North London club where he took his young team to the Champions League final. But he admitted “we cannot guess” the reception he will get from the home crowd tonight after joining their bitter London rivals.
Pochettino carefully trod the line between respecting his former and present clubs during the build-up to tonight’s derby. The Blues boss insisted: “I want to win - I want to beat them. When I play with my kids I want to beat them of course, or my dad or my brothers or my friends - I try to kill them.”
But he also confessed he “cannot lie” and claim to have the same relationship with Chelsea fans after only four months. “I hope we can arrive on the same level that I had at Tottenham because then it would mean we are doing really well here,” Pochettino said.
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But the Chelsea head coach insisted he will not alter his behaviour tonight to try and prove his loyalty to the Stamford Bridge club. “We don’t need to show something special, we need to be natural, that is the most important, not to be fake,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a hypocrite and say something that I don’t feel or are in the process of creating. We cannot underestimate the Chelsea and Tottenham fans. The Chelsea fans know we were at Tottenham and the situation in the Champions League or the Battle of the Bridge.
“Are we going to hide this emotion? No, it’s impossible. And now I cannot say I forget all the things [at Tottenham] - that would be stupid. I’m going to be natural and show every game that I want to win.”
Mauricio Pochettino is set to return to Tottenham for the first time since he was sacked by the club in 2019 (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)So will he celebrate a Chelsea goal? “When you win you celebrate. Until then, it maybe a special goal, sometimes I celebrate. For me it will be important if we win because Chelsea need a win because we need the points not because of the game at Tottenham.”
As part of his pre-match charm offensive, Pochettino claimed unbeaten Tottenham were title contenders. And the relaxed Argentine could laugh off the comparison of going back to see an ex–girlfriend.
“It's difficult because I am nearly 32 years with my wife and I don't know if I remember or even if I had a girlfriend before my wife!” he said. But Pochettino does not hold to the old adage of “never go back” to his football clubs when asked if he could manage Tottenham again.
“Who knows? Who knows? It’s a club like Southampton or Espanyol or Newell’s Old Boys. It’s like life, you never know what is going to happen tomorrow. Hopefully, I can stay here until I die! 20 or 25 years, but you never know in football. It’s a club, for sure if I’m not working, maybe if they want me one day. Why not?”